The fall update

Summer has abruptly ended, at least the warm summer nights did. Our cabin project was moving along, and we miscalculated how quickly we would need heat at night. Since we took out the wood stove to put in the back wall, we have had no means of heating. Just last night we finally got the new/old wood stove installed. It was a stove we were given, by friends who had removed it from a cabin they were going to rent out. (GOOD IDEA). The stove is very small and is a very old Norwegian stove, called ULEFOS. The company began in the 1700s making stoves, and is no longer making them. They clearly knew what they were doing, the stove is very solid, and beautiful.

Other things since the last post… Basement. We would like to ignore the basement, but we have friends from the US who have threatened to move up here if Trump is elected, and other friends who have threatened to move up here is Hillary is elected so we figured we needed to get a move on on the downstairs bedroom 🙂

There is a bedroom under the main living room, that was essentially an afterthought and has not been at all impervious to mice. YEARS AND YEARS of mice. Last year we took down the ceiling to expose generations of mice communities, and all they leave behind when the go, (in more ways that one). We have struggled to get rid of the smell, thinking it was essentially coming from the MICE RUINS within the ceiling. Well apparently there were suburbs in this mice haven, the ceiling being the BIG CITY, with the suburbs in the walls. At first we thought about taking out the inside walls, but THEN we decided it might be better to take out the outside walls.

that is a destruction tool in my hand. I tend to be better at destruction than construction.

so inside wall exposed and lots of remains of mice going and going and going….

and can you believe it, we just happened to have a window to fit into that spot, so that the room could have a southern window.

Then the front wall of the basement

So while I worked on the downstairs, Ken worked on the upstairs, moving the bedroom wall over and making a place for the composting toilet.

Other areas of work have involved a fridge. We have been trying to find a fridge that we can power with our solar system, but all quite expensive right now and one of our neighbours out here suggested that the old fridge that is covered with tarps and we have been trying to figure out HOW we will get rid of……. might work.

So Ken took to his mechanical skills, puttered away with it for awhile and lo and behold it DOES work.

After some research, I estimate it to be from about 1954 or so. They were eventually recalled, as being unsafe, so we will likely keep it outside for now.

It is lacking proper seals around doors, but all and all a decent fridge, think I will paint it red, and put a green peace sign on it 🙂

The other item we found down in the “dungeon” a scary room in the basement…. was this little stove … originally from an RV (again back in the 50s). All the burners work, and so does the oven EXCEPT the oven only has a top heating element, so great for broiling but baking…. not so much. I think we will try to find another one, perhaps few years newer with a lower element.

So I think that catches the blog up to where the house is ….except for my bear story….the one that got away….